ABSTRACT
The intention of the present study is to establish which types of bone tools were present at Gilat, to quantify them, to look for diachronic change, and to discuss the function of the tools in the lives of the occupants in terms of craft and ritual activity. Comparison with bone tools from other Chalcolithic sites in the Negev and with some earlier assemblages in the Levant has necessitated drawing up a new scheme of classification of bone tools, based on those already existing, but with additions and modifications. The report is interim to the extent that traces of wear caused by the initial manufacture of the tools and by subsequent use have not been studied, although useful additional information might be gained from a microscopical examination such as that carried out by Campana (1989) on Natufian tools in the Levant. But it is more than a preliminary study as a new bone tool typology has been constructed based on a careful metric and stylistic study of the assemblage carried out in England.
